Nominated by Time magazine in 1995 as "one of the 100 young leaders for the new millennium", and leader of the first successful South American expedition to Mt Everest and K2, Dr Rodrigo Jordan has applied the leadership and team-building skills needed to climb the world's most challenging mountains to business and education.
A civil and industrial engineer, Jordan earned a Ph.D. in Organizational Administration from Oxford University and is today a lecturer in Leadership and Innovation at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, as well as a lecturer in the School of Engineering at University Alfonso Ibañez. His mountaineering successes gave him the idea of launching his own company called Vertical. This organization, along with the charitable foundation, Fundación Vertical, delivers outdoor education and training services to corporations and individuals, particularly children from inner-city areas. By involving children in nature conservation, Jordan hopes to rear future generations of environmentally conscious people. Jordan also directed TELEDUC, a centre for distance learning of the Catholic University of Chile and in 1998 was appointed executive director of the Corporación de Televisión, the most important television network in Chile, where he served for two years. In 2004, he was awarded the "Order of Gabriela Mistral" for his significant contribution to Chilean education. The following year, he was elected chairman of the Chilean National Foundation for the Alleviation of Poverty. He is currently serving his second term as Chairman.

Rodrigo Jordan, Founder of Vertical, suggests that technology and paradigms are changing at an accelerating pace. Because of this, what made one successful in the past may not lead to success in the future. Therefore, Jordan argues that entrepreneurship is a way of life in which on engages and tries to stay ahead of change over the course of your life.

Rodrigo Jordan, Founder of Vertical, describes a challenge in making the first crossing of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica, highlighting the role in optimism in allowing the team to shift their paradigm and successfully cross an ice valley. Jordan then argues that the entrepreneurs he admires have a similar, paradigm shifting optimism: despite the challenges and disappointments that his colleagues inevitably face, these entrepreneurs overcome their challenges with optimism.